It's the first week of back at the international school in Hannover, and time for the little guys to get a Schultute. That literally means school bag. It's not a bag, though, it's actually a paper cone. On the first day of first grade, kids get cardboard cones from their parents that are decorated on the outside and filled with school supplies, candy, and toys inside. It's sort of like a back-to-school Christmas stocking.
I was subbing for primary ESL on the first day of school, so I got to witness the throng of big people coming into the classroom of little people, bringing huge paper cones. They look like this:
At an international school, there's no guarantee that the parents will all know they are supposed to get their kids a schultute. Since a little less than half of the students are German, it's possible there could be a huge whining disaster on the first day of school as the kids without cones to cry, feel unloved, and become emotionally scarred and in need of therapy until age 50. In the meantime the kids with cones start could start waving them around and taunting the rest with their chocolates, Spiderman stickers, and Hello Kitty pencil sharpeners. To prevent this sort of chaos, the first grade teachers emailed all the parents in advance to tell them about the tradition and even bought some little schultuten for kids whose parents missed the memo. These of course did not have cool cartoon characters on them and were not big enough the kid to practically climb into, but they would probably prevent a riot or at least lasting psychological trauma.
Happy first day of school, kiddos. May your cones be full of surprises.
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